Leo Messi’s Golden Ball (and other things you didn’t already know)

By: Ade C. | December 1st, 2009

I assume most of our readership is not living in caves, away from all human contact, and that they already know (because they’ve seen it here, here or even here) that our very own Lionel Messi has walked off with France Football’s 2009 Ballon D’Or with a sweeping 473 out of 480 possible points.

I'm still waiting for a more glamorous shot, France Football...

Ah, but that is not all. Look at the complete list and tell me what you see (hint: it’s in bold):

1. Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona) : 473 points
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Manchester United and Real Madrid) : 233 pts
3. Xavi (Spain, FC Barcelona) : 170 pts
4. Andrés Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona) : 149 pts
5. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, FC Barcelona and Inter Milan) : 75 pts
6. Kaka (Brazil, Milan AC and Real Madrid) : 58 pts
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Inter Milan and FC Barcelona) : 50 pts
8. Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United): 35 pts
9. Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire, Chelsea): 33 pts
10. Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool) : 32 pts
11. Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool): 22 pts
12. Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal) : 13 pts
13. Edin Dzeko (Bosnia, Wolfsburg) : 12 pts
14. Ryan Giggs (Wales, Manchester United) : 11 pts
15. Thierry Henry (France, FC Barcelona) : 9 pts
16. Luis Fabiano (Brazil, FC Sevilla), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United), Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid): 8 pts
19. Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid) : 7 pts
20. Yoann Gourcuff (France, Bordeaux) : 6 pts
21. Andreï Asrhavin (Russia, Arsenal), Julio Cesar (Brazil, Inter Milan), Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea) : 5 pts
24. Maicon (Brazil, Inter Milan) : 4 pts
25. Diego (Brazil, Werder Brêmen and Juventus) : 3 pts
26. David Villa (Spain, Valencia), John Terry (England, Chelsea) : 2 pts
28. Franck Ribéry (France, Bayern Munich), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire, FC Barcelona) : 1 pt
30. Karim Benzema (France, Lyon then Real Madrid): 0 pt

It’s enough even for a worrywart culé to dance in glee, isn’t it?

In other happy news that we have forgotten to report thanks to the Clásico Fever (symptoms include a dislike of anything white, distraction from work, violent moodswings and the ability to see all glasses as half-empty (ETA: not to mention atrocious hangovers, especially if your name is Joan Laporta)) are:

IniestaLaportaRenovación
-Andrés Iniesta has signed an extension on his contract that will see him stay at Camp Nou until 2014, with a buy-out clause that is close to Messi’s own (nearly 150 million euros, in case you were thinking of saving up for your own Ghostface); you can see the candid picture of the fact, taken from Iniesta’s new Facebook page (he also recently got a Twitter).

-Eric Abidal has also renewed his contract, this one until 2012, with an improvement in his salary, but keeping the same buy-out clause.

-And more contracts, this one Rafa Marquez’s, which Joan had already discussed, and that will see him play for at least 2 more years with us.

-Super Yayá seems to be unhappy with not being on the starting XI against Real Madrid and his agent is talking about how much he’d like to play for ManCity with his brother, Kolo. To let go of Yaya and be left only with Busi (all of Xavi’s compliments notwithstanding)? No, please!

-The fixtures for the next Copa del Rey matches are done and it has pitted us against what’s possibly the strongest side left (asides from us): Sevilla FC; even if we make it, we would then meet whoever came out of another Primera clash: Valencia-Deportivo. Well, better than Alcorcón, isn’t it?

-Piqué and Busquets will not travel for tomorrow’s match against Liga-newcomers Xerez, Busi because he’s suspended and Piqué because Pep said so; Bojan, Jeffren and Jonathan ‘Johnny’ Dos Santos will be there, though (hmmm, Jeffren as a full-back?). Remember, this match has been moved to this date to give us time for the Club World Cup. We also play Deportivo on Saturday.

-And last, but not at all least, Gabi Milito has been cleared by the Barça doctors and given the go-ahead to rejoin the team. He has already been included in the list of players that will play the Club World Cup and is expected to get some minutes soon to regain match-readiness. Isn’t it wonderful news?